[lbo-talk] Fwd: Noam goes with Barry ?

[Carrol Cox]

I'm afraid Chomsky is slipping into "Crackpot Realism." The number of people
in the U.S. who, like Chomsky, dislike Obama "from the left" is so small
that they their position on the election cannot possibly affect it. They are
simply irrelevant when they take a position (either for or against Obama) on
the election. (Yes, I know I have slipped into this role in the past.) Their
actions in _non-electoral_ politics may or may not ultimately be of
significance but such activity can, in principle, make a diffeence. It is
not even theoretically possible that their electoral participation will make
a difference, in either the short or long run. Chomsky (or any or all other)
leftists could campaign actively for the GOP and still be unable to make an
electoral difference. There is no conceivable way in which "leftists" can
make an electoral difference. There are not enough of us to give any
substance to a boycott of the election either. There s no way, no way
whatsoever, that we can become a significant factor in the election.

Put another way, in the context of the2112 presidential election, Marvin
Gandall & Carrol Cox are both equally sectarian and equally irrelevant.

(It may, just possibly, be different in some _local_ electoral contests; I
don't know.)

Carrol

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